Panagiotopoulos: Once Vastria facility for migrants opens, Mavrovouni will shut down
The construction of the Closed Controlled Facility in Vastria at northern Lesvos is nearly complete and will be turned over within 2025, Migration and Asylum Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said on Thursday, following a visit to the island a day earlier.
Panagiotopoulos also asserted that once Vastria opens, the Mavrovouni facility will shut down. "I never even hinted that the two facilities on Lesvos will run concurrently. Once the Vastria facility begins operation, that in Mavrovouni will stop operating," he underlined.
The minister also noted that the new facility, which is 95% complete, is an obligation of Greece to the European Union that is funding it.
During his visit to the island on Wednesday, Panagiotopoulos met consecutively with North Aegean Regional Governor Kostas Moutzouris, Mytilini Mayor Panagiotis Christofas, and Western Lesvos Mayor Taxiarchis Verros. He was accompanied by two general secretaries of the ministry and they discussed challenges Lesvos faces on the migration issue, as well as government initiatives.
Referring to the new facility in Vastria, he said its operation and the transfer of migrants to the interior of the island "will contribute to the island's tourism and economic development." After visiting Mavrovouni, he commented on "great progress in its decongestion," saying that during the last month the number of housed migrants dropped from 3,903 to 2,929 during the last month.
AMNA
